


The Memory of Stone

by Rynling



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble Series, Gen, Legend of Zelda Lore, Speculation, Training Montage, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25230271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynling/pseuds/Rynling
Summary: As Impa trains Zelda in the ways of the Sheikah, she guides her young acolyte through the temples that have long kept Hyrule’s secrets.
Relationships: Impa & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 26
Collections: Multifandom Drabble 2020





	The Memory of Stone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [disgruntled_owl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/disgruntled_owl/gifts).



**\- Forest -**

“A noble family of knights once lived here, long before the war,” Impa said, placing her hand against the mossy trunk of a tree whose roots had broken through the paving stones of the manor’s front garden. “They were closely related to the royal family. You could see traces of the castle architecture in all of their holdings, but this is the only estate that remains.”

Zelda nodded in acknowledgment. Now that she knew what to look for, the layout of the courtyard did seem familiar. She waited for a pang of homesickness to strike her chest. It came, but it was fainter than it once was.

The stairs leading to the front entrance had crumbled, and the debris had been overtaken by weeds and ivy. If the structure was anything like the castle, it would have an extensive basement, which was probably why the main door was so far above the ground. There didn’t seem to be any ventilation windows, at least not that Zelda could see, and the only way inside was high above her head.

“How do we get up there?” she asked.

Impa smiled. “That’s what you’ve come here to learn.”

“I’m ready,” Zelda said, and she was. After a more than a year spent in hiding, she was eager to begin her training.

As she bowed to Impa, Zelda saw something curious out of the corner of her eye. It may have been nothing more than a trick of the light, but it seemed almost as if one of the corridors connecting the manor’s wings to the main building had _twisted_.

**\- Fire -**

The Goron mines felt almost cool after the searing inferno of the volcano crater. Zelda ran her fingers across the heat-resistant Sheikah fabric covering her arms as she listened to the booming voices echoing through the cavernous ore processing station. In the heady light of the torches borne by roughly hewn statues, her deep crimson tunic had taken on the same rusty orange hue as Darunia, the Goron leader who had assumed the task of guiding them through the chamber.

Zelda waited until his whispered conversation with Impa settled into a lull before speaking up to ask about a matter that had been bothering her since they entered the underground tunnels. “The granite blocks you use here,” she began, struggling to raise her voice above the din. “Why are they marked with the Gerudo crest?”

Darunia seemed surprised by her question, but then his face softened. “The Gerudo are skilled craftswomen,” he answered with a laugh. “We’ve got all the igneous rock we need, but granite has its uses, and what they do with marble is simply divine. And you haven’t lived, little brother, until you’ve tasted the crunch of sandstone. It’s junk, but I could eat it all day. All their traders want in return are gemstones.” He gave her a conspiratorial wink. “We’d give the useless things away for free, but it would be a shame to turn down such a good bargain.”

Emboldened by Darunia’s smile, Zelda attempted another question. “If the Gerudo are so generous, why don’t you trade with them anymore?” she asked.

“Why indeed,” Impa answered, her face taking on an odd expression before she turned away and changed the subject.

**\- Water -**

Zelda perched on a stone tablet sunken into the spongy earth lining the eastern shore of a small island in the middle of Lake Hylia, recovering her strength as she waited for her tunic to dry. Its fabric was as blue as the sky reflected in the lake’s pellucid water. She was eager to don the traditional Sheikah garb, as dark as the shadow of midnight, but first she would have to learn to hold her breath.

A marvelous structure stretched down into the lakebed under the island. Zelda wondered what its original purpose could possibly have been. It was useful enough for diving lessons, and its architecture was beautiful, to be sure, but its floodgates and artificial waterfalls must have once served a more utilitarian purpose. To regulate the lake’s water level, perhaps?

“I overheard something interesting in Zora’s Domain,” Zelda said, having just remembered. Impa had instructed her to keep her eyes and ears open. Even the most inconsequential gossip could prove useful, especially when people feared to voice their troubles openly.

“One of the shopkeepers said that this year’s spawning season is going to be short,” Zelda reported. “Lake Hylia has been getting colder, apparently. I think she said something about the water levels dropping, but I couldn’t hear the conversation clearly.”

“That _is_ interesting, but it doesn’t surprise me,” Impa replied with a curt nod. “No one has performed maintenance on this facility since the war.”

So this place was a ‘facility,’ then. But for what? Zelda was too exhausted from swimming to inquire further, but she filed the information away for future reference. There was much she had never been taught about Hyrule’s history, and there was still more she would need to learn. 

**\- Shadow -**

Zelda stood beside Impa inside a circle of glyphs that emitted a pale cyanic light from the earth floor before the great iron door of the Sheikah training grounds. It was too dark for Zelda to ascertain how large the room was. Dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of unlit braziers surrounded them.

“This temple exists to serve not just our young warriors, but our masters of illusion as well,” Impa explained. “It’s said that, long ago, in an era more distant than living memory can account for, the Sheikah created a multitude of underground palaces fashioned entirely of smoke and magic, all for the purpose of honing our skills. Like so many things in this fallen age, our knowledge of these shrines has been lost.”

“So none of this is real,” Zelda confirmed.

“Some of it is, but most of it isn’t. As you’ll learn in the lower levels, much of what you will encounter is nothing short of impossible.”

“But below the well? Is that real?” Zelda asked.

“We will not speak of what rests below the well.”

Zelda allowed for a respectful silence. What she had seen in the sewers of the ancient Sheikah village was not so much terrible as sad. Sad for the creatures that ‘rested’ there, and sad for those fated to carry the burden of the knowledge of the royal family’s secrets.

“Knowing the truth can be dangerous, and it’s rarely useful,” Impa continued. “What you must learn instead is to see the illusion.”

**\- Spirit -**

The journey into the desert had been arduous. Knowing that the canyon pass would be carefully watched, Impa took a longer route through the highlands of the mountain range stretching to the west of the castle. The terrain was treacherous, but the hardships had been worth it. Zelda had never seen anything like the golden sea of sand stretching endlessly into the pale horizon.

The edifice the Gerudo referred to as the Spirit Temple was a monument to the ingenuity of the women who had constructed it. Its sandstone face gleamed in the beams of sunlight that made their way into the remote canyon hollow, whose fragrant shadows bloomed green with the plants surrounding the crystal-clear waters of an oasis.

“Does it frighten you?” Impa asked.

“It’s magnificent,” Zelda responded. The goddess carved into the stone of the cliff face was a wonderful to behold. “But why is no one here? Has it been abandoned?”

“The Spirit Temple is a training gauntlet intended only for the most skilled of warriors. If anyone walks here, she walks alone.”

Zelda was concerned. The years had taught her humility, and she had come to understand her limits. She feared to enter a place like this on her own.

Impa crossed her arms above her chest. “It was a proving ground for the boy who would become the so-called King of the Gerudo. We will test ourselves here. We must know what he knows.”

“Would it not be better for the hero to undertake this task?”

“One day he will, if our plans come to fruition. But he will need a guide.”

**\- Light -**

“You must listen carefully,” Impa instructed as she handed Zelda a curious device that resembled a mask. “The whispers of the Sheikah Stones have grown faint.”

Zelda slipped the mask over the cloth binding her ears. She could make out a faint crackling sound as she approached the row of squat statues set back from the main path leading to the cathedral on the edge of what used to be Castle Town.

She thought she could hear the ghostly traces of words, but she couldn’t be certain. As she leaned forward, trying to position herself closer to the source of the sound, she was startled by a piercing shriek. It came from the direction of the town square, but the echoes ringing across the deserted streets made it seem as if it were right behind her.

Impa scowled but did not flinch. “They will not dare to set foot here.”

Zelda took a deep breath and concentrated. Her efforts were rewarded when the stone spoke in a voice that sounded uncannily like one of the women who used to deliver produce to the castle.

“They say that… Lon Ranch hopes a knight in shining armor will… off her feet someday.”

Zelda’s face hardened under her mask. A knight _would_ come. She would make sure of it.

**\- Time -**

The young princess walked through the nave of the cathedral standing at the edge of the lively town spilling down the hill from the foot of the castle. She had only ever come here for ceremonial occasions, when the building was filled with the bright cacophony of the nobility and their courtiers. It was eerie to be in this place alone, under the silent cover of darkness. She would have landed herself in horrible trouble if she were caught, but she felt that she was doing something even more forbidden than sneaking out after nightfall. It was as if she were intruding into the realm of the sacred.

Zelda had experienced strange dreams for all of her short life, but the one she’d woken from this morning was different. She found that she knew things, somehow. Her feet made no sound as they struck the polished marble floor, and leaving the castle had presented her with no difficulty at all. She was convinced that Impa had spotted her when she attempted to conceal herself behind a garden hedge, but the mysterious Sheikah allowed her to go on her way. Zelda would talk with her about this later, perhaps, but at the moment she forced herself to focus on the source of the vision that led her here.

Behind the raised altar was a wall covered in intricate carvings, but Zelda knew it wasn’t a wall – it was a door. Behind the door was a sword created by the goddess Hylia, and beyond that was something even more precious, something that needed to be kept safe at all costs.

 _But what if I opened the door?_ she wondered. _What if I used the power myself? For the good of Hyrule?_

The new and strange part of her, the part of her that could scale a wall like a lizard and run across rooftops like a cat, recoiled at this thought. It occurred to her that it would be unwise to release the seal placed on the door before she had complete control over who would pass through it.

That time had not yet come, but it was growing near. Zelda had seen a boy in her dreams, a boy with wide but tired eyes, a boy who smelled like the forest. He was a friend, and he would grant her the courage she needed to change the course of history. She had never met him before, but still she remembered him.

Zelda was not content to wait for his arrival. Bathed in the cold moonlight pooling on the hard stone, she began to lay her plans. When the moment finally came for her to act, she would be ready.


End file.
